Why MBV's Reissued Albums Have Been Delay: "Sony Hid Our Master Tapes!"

We're approaching the 21st anniversary of the release of Loveless, the highly influential fuzz-rock album by Ireland's My Bloody Valentine.  And we're still waiting for Kevin Shields and Co. to issue a followup.

Kevin is still working on an album--he says we might see it by the end of the year--but in the meantime, MBV is releasing reissues of their earlier work.

Given that all these records are more than twenty years old, you'd think they'd have been dusted off and reissued before now.  Why not?  Because Sony, the label that inherited MBV when they purchases Alan McGee's creation, hid the master tapes.

From an interview with Pitchfork:

The [remastering] process actually started in 2001, when we managed to come to an agreement with Sony, who inherited us from Creation. Part of the Sony deal was that I wanted all of the EPs made into one package because, back in 2001, you could get the albums pretty easily but not the EPs. So it was basically a compilation of all the EPs, and that was it.

Then we decided to do Isn't Anything and Loveless as well-- if we're gonna remaster [the EPs], we should remaster everything. In 2002, I tried to start working on it, but the studio that had the tapes, Metropolis Studios, lost them; the analog multi-tracks were all missing for a year. Only after I started threatening to get Scotland Yard involved did they magically, suddenly reappear. The true story is as yet to be determined, but we'll fight that one out in the near future.

More can be found here.  As for that new album, I'll believe it when I hold it in my hands.